Maryland Police Are Deploying Cameras To Watch Other Cameras

Police in Palmer Park, Md., plan to deploy cameras to surveil the
other other cameras in their district.

Ari Ash of
WTOP talked to police in the area, who said that local people
had started targeting the speed cameras police put up in
intersections, as well as surveillance cameras. The police
said that since April, six people have been involved in camera
damaging activities.

One man literally pulled out a pistol and used the camera for
target practice. Police found another speed camera flipped
over—leading police to believe a gang of people committed the
crime, considering the weight of the camera. Then there was the
camera set up on a stand, near FedEx Field. A man walked up to it, cut off one
of the legs, and walked away.

"I guess that makes a statement," Prince George's County
Police Maj. Robert V. Liberati told WTOP. "But we were
able to just attach another leg."

He said he didn't get too worried until the fire. Yes, one
of the cameras incinerated.

Liberati, who's the commander of the Automated
Enforcement Section, in other words "speed cameras," says each
camera can cost up to $30,000. They needed to do something to
deter the camera saboteurs. Liberati thought cameras to watch the
cameras was a good solution.

Liberati said that speed cameras, under Maryland state law, can
only be used to track speeding violations, so the station ordered
separate surveillance cameras.

One is in place already, and the department hopes to have a dozen
more by the end of the year.